Barbara La Marr

[Serendipity09]

Barbara La Marr 1896 - 1926
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Barbara La Marr, known as "The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful," was one of the first big stars of Hollywood, and one of its first victims.

La Marr's parents moved to a small town in California when she was a teenager, but she quickly left home to explore the opportunities available to an attractive girl in the big city of Los Angeles. She was arrested for dancing in a burlesque show while she was 14, and a judge said she was "too beautiful to be alone in a big city, alone and unprotected," a comment which lead to her eventual screen nickname.

She began her film career as a writer in 1920 for the Fox Film Corporation, but studio executives recognized the appeal of this beautiful, energetic woman, and put her in front of the cameras. Her screen debut was in "Harriet and the Piper" (1920). She had small parts in "The Nut" (1921) and "The Three Musketeers" (1921), both starring Douglas Fairbanks, and quickly graduated to starring roles in "Arabian Love," "Domestic Relations," "Trifling Woman" and "The Prisoner of Zenda," all released in 1922.

La Marr was also keeping busy outside the studio. She was already on her fifth marriage, was a familiar face on the Hollywood party scene, and had developed a strong relationship with alcohol and drugs. La Marr reportedly slept only two hours per night -- "I have better things to do," she said.

La Marr was equally adept at comedy, drama or romance. The raven-haired beauty appeared in nine films in 1923, including "St. Elmo," with John Gilbert, and "The Eternal City," with Lionel Barrymore. But her wild off-screen life was beginning to wear her down, and she appeared in only four films in 1924, and two in 1925. Her last film was "The Girl From Montmartre" (1926), co-starring Lewis Stone.

Her body weakened by drugs and her wild life, La Marr was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and died in early 1926 -- a few months before her 30th birthday. An estimated 40,000 mourners attended her funeral.

Though La Marr is perhaps not as well-remembered as some of her silent screen contemporaries, like Mary Pickford, Clara Bow, Mabel Normand, Themla Todd or Gloria Swanson, she is certainly not forgotten. Her crypt is often decorated with flowers, photographs, notes from fans, even lip prints.

And, years after her death, MGM studio chief Louis Mayer, one of La Marr's greatest fans, decided to pick a new name for a young starlett named Hedwig Kiesler. He decided to name her in honor of La Marr -- and gave her the name Hedy Lamarr.

La Marr crypt contains the inscription, "With God in the joy and beauty of youth."

La Marr was born Reatha Dale Watson on July 28, 1896 (some sources say 1900), in Yakima, WA. She died on Jan. 30, 1926, in Altadena, CA.

[VeuveClicquotNJ]

Barbara LaMarr left an illegitimate son (father never identified). He was adopted by LaMarr's friend, ZaSu Pitts & her husband, Tom Gallery. I believe he is still alive - his name is Don Gallery.

P~

[leevancleef]

im quite fascinated by her story. Shes considered one of the most beautiful actresses of the silent films era.
Fairbanks was the one who helped her to get better roles at the beggining of her career and they were romantically linked for a short period of time.
She was addicted to morphine and although the official cause of her death was tuberculosis, most people of her time and of the industry thought that she OD'd.

[KELT]

[SIZE=4]T[/SIZE]he son was living in Claremont, CA at one point & also in Avalon; don't know if he still is or not. BARBARA LAMARR had a beautiful face and was known to have been one of those daZZling types who as soon as she entered a room, all eyes just followed her everywhere. She did however, have hands that were less than lovely; odd, square shaped.

[Curtis Radiohead]

[SIZE=4]T[/SIZE]he son was living in Claremont, CA at one point & also in Avalon; don't know if he still is or not. BARBARA LAMARR had a beautiful face and was known to have been one of those daZZling types who as soon as she entered a room, all eyes just followed her everywhere. She did however, have hands that were less than lovely; odd, square shaped.

That is strange about her hands. I have never seen that before. Does a better pic of them exist?

[Kathyf]

What an interesting story. I think that's neat that Mayer named Hedy after her.

[burgtwngrl]

I read that and couldn't get over that. She looked pretty good in those photos for partying so hard and only getting 2 hours sleep a night. She didn't want to miss anything but she sure missed alot since she only lived to 29. Not worth it. BTW I read that her child was adopted by her it was not her natural child and Zasu adopted the child after Barbara Died.

[Vamp]

Early Life

Originally christened Reatha Dale Watson, Barbara La Marr was born to William Wallace and Rosana "Rose" Watson in Yakima, Washington, in 1896. Her father, born in 1857 in Illinois, was an editor for a newspaper, and her mother, born in Oregon in 1858, was previously married. Rose had a son, Henry, born in 1878, and a daughter, Violet, born in February 1881, from her first marriage. The couple wed some time during 1884, and they had William Watson Jr., born in June 1886 in Washington. He would later, in the 1920's, become a semi-famous vaudeville comedian under the stage name of "Billy Devore". The Watsons lived in various locations during La Marr's formative years. By 1900, 3-year-old Reatha was living with her parents in Portland, Oregon, with her brother William, her half-sister Violet Ross, and Violet's husband Arvel Ross.(1) As a child, La Marr also performed in a few stage productions in Tacoma, Washington.
By 1910, La Marr was living in Fresno, California, with her parents.(2) Some time after 1911, the family moved to Los Angeles, and later settled at 220 San Jose Street in Burbank, California. In January 1913, La Marr's half-sister, now going by the name of Violet Ake, took her then 16-year-old sister on a three-day automobile excursion with a man named C.C. Boxley. They drove up to Santa Barbara, California, from Los Angeles, but after a few days La Marr felt that they were not going to let her return home to Los Angeles. Ake and Boxley finally let La Marr return to Los Angeles after they realized that there were warrants issued for their arrests accusing them of abduction. This episode was published in several newspapers and La Marr even testified against her sister, but nothing came of the case. The prosecution team, lead by District Attorney Vietch, could not prove that La Marr was taken against her will. It also came out during the pre-trial that La Marr had posed nude for several local artists and she was known for having a fantastic physique.
Having the flair for drama, La Marr's name would be kept constantly in newspaper headlines during the next few years. Therefore, at the tender age of 16, La Marr had already earned herself a scandalous reputation. In November 1913, La Marr came back from Arizona and announced that she was the newly-widowed wife of a rancher named Jack Lytell, and that they were supposedly married in Mexico. She also stated that she loathed the name Reatha and preferred to be called by the childhood nickname "Beth".(3)

[edit] Career

After marrying and moving with her husband to New York City, La Marr found employment writing screenplays and her association with movie makers led to her returning to Los Angeles and making her film debut as an actress in 1920. Over the next few years she acted frequently in films, and was widely publicised as "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World". With this, she rapidly shot to stardom.
La Marr made the successful leap from writer to actress in Douglas Fairbanks' The Nut (1921), appeared in over 30 films, wrote seven successful screenplays for United Artists and Fox studios, and danced in musical comedies on Broadway. She is also said to have filmed dancing shorts in New York City, Chicago, and in Los Angeles, with such diverse partners as Rudolph Valentino and Clifton Webb.
Among La Marr's most important films are "The Prisoner of Zenda" and "Trifling Women," both 1922 releases directed by Rex Ingram. "Trifling Women" is of particular interest, perhaps, because of certain similarities -- an ape, a dark-haired, overpowdered vamp, chiaroscuro lighting (as seen in photos; "Trifling Women" is now lost) -- to Billy Wilder's 1950 Gothic film noir "Sunset Blvd." Additionally, cinematographer John F. Seitz shot both films.

[edit] Demise

Although her film career flourished, she also embraced the fast-paced Hollywood nightlife, remarking in an interview that she slept no more than two hours a night, as life was too short to waste on sleep.
During this time she became addicted to heroin, and her addiction, combined with her busy social life and grueling work commitments, took a toll on her health. She died suddenly from tuberculosis and nephritis in Altadena, California and was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The newspapers of the day referred to her as "The Girl Too Beautiful To Live" and "The Girl Who Was Too Beautiful", a slight variation on the title that had been closely associated with her.
La Marr married for the first time at the age of seventeen, and was ultimately married five times. At the time of her death she was married to the actor Jack Dougherty. Some years after her death, it was revealed that she had mothered an illegitimate son by a man whose name has never been released. The child, Marvin Carville La Marr, was adopted after her death by the actress ZaSu Pitts and her husband, film executive Tom Gallery. The child was renamed Don Gallery and grew up to become an actor and a sometime boyfriend of Elizabeth Taylor; he now lives in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
After the death of La Marr, William Watson gave a newspaper interview stating that his daughter was born in Washington and that she was a child actress. He also stated that she went to school in Portland, Oregon, and in Fresno, California.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Barbara La Marr has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1621 Vine Street.

[edit] Trivia

• In the 1930s, Louis B. Mayer named the actress Hedy Lamarr after Barbara La Marr, who had been one of his favorite actresses.
• She was known as "The Girl Who Is Too Beautiful", after a Hearst newspaper feature writer, Adela Rogers St. Johns, saw a judge sending her home during the police beat in Los Angeles because she was too beautiful and young to be on her own.
• LaMarr said, and it was generally believed, that she had been adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Watson of Yakima, Washington. Depending on her mood, Barbara claimed to be of different exotic ancestries. Some film historians, however, believe that this was a tall tale to glamorize herself, when, in fact, she was the biological child of the Watsons.
• Her former dance partner, Robert Carville, was named as her alleged lover by her former third husband Phil Ainsworth in his divorce suit.

[RoRo]

wow great posts...very interesting woman

[Morrissey]

It's nice to see a post about her... hardly anyone knows who she was.

She was a lovely woman...I've only seen a couple of her films, but they were amazing.

[Marion]

Barbara LaMarr left an illegitimate son (father never identified). He was adopted by LaMarr's friend, ZaSu Pitts & her husband, Tom Gallery. I believe he is still alive - his name is Don Gallery.

P~

I did not know that Barbara had a child

[SistaSara]

[Vamp]

I did not know that Barbara had a child

It is wonderful there were close friends willing to adopt the child.

[Shamrocker99]

Very interesting! I didn't know anything about her! Another tragic death of a young actress.

[SistaSara]

Today would've been Barbara's 112th birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the girl who was too beautiful!

[Lisamarie]

there is a coffin pic someplace....she looks beautiful..not sick at all but her hands look really bad...you can clearly see they are dicolored in death..Im gonna look..whoever did her makeup did a great job tho...

[Vamp]

Today would've been Barbara's 112th birthday!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the girl who was too beautiful!

Happy Birthday!

[Lisamarie]

it was in one of the hollywood bablyon books..I cant find it online..its a very interestibg oic of her in the coffin with a kind of veil over drapped over her and she has on a lot of makeup dark lipstick and the weird thing is her hands are real discolored even in a black and white picture you can tell....

[burgtwngrl]

Here is a link to some photos of Barbara's Home in Hollywood.

http://www.silentsaregolden.com/home...aralamarr.html

[Guest]

Barbara is one of my all time favourite screen vamps along with Theda Bara. I first read of her way back in the Hollywood Babylon 1 book, and since in a biography - fascinatingly tragic woman.

[KELT]

That is strange about her hands. I have never seen that before. Does a better pic of them exist?

[burgtwngrl]

Can't find the Coffin Photo. Would love to see it though

[NewYorkDoll]

club hands?

[burgtwngrl]

I never noticed before but yes Her hands were odd shaped.

[fultondyke]

I think Kenneth Anger claimed that Barbara kept her heroin stash in a small coffin-shaped box.

[sablegsd]

Her nostrils look uneven too.

[Lisamarie]

yeah the pic is in the hollywood babylon book...

[MoonRabbit]

Her weird hands would be considered cool by today's youths.

[deanfan]

Lying in state. Better picture on this site http://ivyblue.net/2003/04/hollywood-babylon/

[Lisamarie]

Thats it!!! If you caqn zoom in take a look at her hands!!! They look awful! Very discolored and pretty dead looking...what an odd way to have her laid out..I cant help but to wonder if she was pretty ripe at this point.

[Lisamarie]

WAS it an overdose do we thing and the studio fixed it up for her ???

[Lisamarie]

can anyone tell me?

[deanfan]

Been looking around, but so far haven't found anything about an od. I wouldn't be surprised if it was. By the way, 5 marriages by her mid 20's, wow. She could've put Elizabeth Taylor to shame if she hadn't died.

[Lisamarie]

I know right!!! I love her life she was so tragically glam!!!! I just wonder did she overdose and the studio cover it up as they often do....Where was she found dead I wonder. Or rather who found her...I love the never wasteing time sleeping..I am a huge sleeping fan Lol!!

[Flmlvr]

I remember as a precocious teenager reading about Barbara LaMarr in some book whose title I cannot recall - but it profiled famous female silent stars. It was that book that I first heard the name Barbara LaMarr. To think she died the same year as Rudolph Valentino. Oh, and it contained a picture of her lying in state which was much closer then the photo posted above. What a sad tragic story....am glad to see that some people know who she is and that she is remembered........

[Lisamarie]

she was gone far too soon xo

[HoneyBadger]

I'm new guys and dolls. I know nothing about this lady. However, (don't you just love a "however"). My ex's great-grandfather was a doctor in the south. It was a well known "thing" in the 20's/ 30's to use early x-ray machines to "make your hands look younger". Apparently that was a big deal back then. My ex's grand mother died from over use of this thing.

[aedgar5000]

Lying in state. Better picture on this site http://ivyblue.net/2003/04/hollywood-babylon/

Great pic, Deanfan

WAS it an overdose do we thing and the studio fixed it up for her ???

I think it was a cover-up for an OD. Tuberculosis was just a convenient excuse. The body can only take so many drugs with so little rest..

[Lisamarie]

yeah I wonder who did her makeup for her death.

[deanfan]

If you click on the picture, you can see the side of her hand looks normal. Whatever is in the background (maybe her other hand?) is giving the illusion of an odd shaped hand.

[Lisamarie]

her hand look like rigor has set in in the laying instate pic...they make up her face but not her hands I guess...she looks good tho

[Mintgiver]

Thats it!!! If you caqn zoom in take a look at her hands!!! They look awful! Very discolored and pretty dead looking...what an odd way to have her laid out..I cant help but to wonder if she was pretty ripe at this point.

It may be that she was placed in her coffin wearing lace mitts. It was pretty common in my family at a certain time in history...

[Lisamarie]

lace mitss as on gloves ?? Why?

[Mintgiver]

We're Italian Catholic; it just seems to be a long-time tradition. I don't think it is continuing, though. We also have lace veils for certain Church services.

Looking closely at the two pictures, you can clearly see that the entire bier is covered with a sheet of lace, so I may be on the right track.

[Lisamarie]

her hand are just so noticeable in the pic...poor Barbra ..I wonder where they found her like in her bed? On the floor of her home...

[Gladiolus]

There are lots of pics of her online (Google images).

In a few you can see the dope fiend "lazy eye," like this one:



And she looks pretty worn out here:

[Meow]

Great find! I was unaware of her until this thread.

[KELT]

http://michaelgankerich.files.wordpr...06/barb011.png

DON GALLERY (center), BARBARA LaMARR'S only child.

[Drew]

http://thesilentmovieblog.wordpress....the-limelight/ http://thesilentmovieblog.files.word...tate.jpg?w=495
Her death prompted an impressive number of mourners to pay their respects, according to the New York Times.
It reported on February 6, 1926 that “upwards of 40,000 persons filed past the bier during the three days the body lay in state.”
The Times added that on just one of those days, five women fainted and had to be rescued by police from being trampled by the crowd.

[Dave62]

Here are two LaMarr photos, one clearly shows the "hand squareness" is her thumb in a bent position. The other shows her in her sick-bed, maybe even her death-bed, looking IMO at least 25 years older than her actual age. Poor soul ....


http://framework.latimes.com/2013/12...s-large-crowd/